On November 13, OpenAI upgraded its GPT-5.1 personality model, bringing warmer conversations, sharper reasoning, and new user-controlled personality presets for a smarter, more humanized, and easier to personalize ChatGPT.
The new GPT model launch is OpenAI’s second major revision since the original release in August, to tackle user criticism over minor improvements and a colder, less intuitive tone.
With two new model variants, expanded personality settings, and adaptive reasoning upgrades, the OpenAI GPT-5.1 launch is a response to the competition and public expectations on how conversational AI should behave.
ChatGPT AI Personality
OpenAI o1 model family is adapting to new methods on how users can alter ChatGPT’s tone of voice, now offering a full suite of personality presets Default, Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, Efficient, Nerdy, and Cynical.
“We heard clearly from users that great AI should not only be smart, but also enjoyable to talk to,” the company said in its announcement.
“With more than 800 million people using ChatGPT, we’re well past the point of one-size-fits-all,” OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, confirmed the shift.
The GPT-5.1 personality replaces earlier options like Robot and Listener, now renamed Efficient and Friendly, while adding new tones such as Professional, Candid, and Quirky. The company is also rolling out an experimental feature allowing users to fine tune ChatGPT’s style directly from settings, adjusting warmth, conciseness, emoji usage, and overall communication flavor in real time.
The ChatGPT personality modes aren’t just cosmetic. The GPT-5.1 model has a softer AI tone of voice, with more emotionally attuned phrasing.
When a user typed, “I’m feeling stressed and could use some relaxation tips,” GPT-5.1 replied, “I’ve got you, Ron — that’s totally normal, especially with everything you’ve got going on lately.”
The conversational warmth arrives as OpenAI faces legal scrutiny over emotionally engaging responses. Recent lawsuits claim the model’s style can encourage emotional dependence, including one case alleging its influence on a teenager’s suicide. Despite these challenges, OpenAI maintains that users want more intuitive, human-like communication, and GPT-5.1 warm mode reflects that philosophy.
Instant and Conversational GPT-5.1
The new release introduces differences between GPT-5.1 vs GPT-5, varying between GPT-5.1 Instant and GPT-5.1 Thinking. GPT-5.1 Instant is “warmer, more intelligent, and better at following your instructions,” said OpenAI.
It also uses adaptive reasoning, choosing when to spend extra thinking time on harder questions. In testing, the model delivered faster responses for simple tasks and more detailed reasoning for complex problems like math and code.
GPT-5.1 Thinking, the most advanced version, has been reworked to deliver more precise reasoning and clearer explanations, avoiding jargon and undefined terms. OpenAI says it now spends time dynamically faster on easy questions, slower on hard ones.
Early comparisons show a worthy contrast with the GPT-5.1 personality, where the older model responded to a prompt about travel with, “How about exploring Japan this summer?” GPT-5.1 Instant matched the requested constraint more reliably, answering in exactly six words, “Consider Japan, Italy, Greece, Canada, Iceland.”
This level of instruction following accuracy represents the model’s biggest practical upgrade. The company says it results in “more thorough answers for difficult requests and less waiting for simpler ones.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft OpenAI’s largest partner is integrating Anthropic’s models into its Copilot tools, a shift that may have pressured OpenAI to accelerate the release of the GPT-5.1 model.
GPT-5.1’s arrival follows OpenAI’s recent launch of ChatGPT Atlas, its AI-powered web browser with an “agent mode” capable of taking action on behalf of users. The enhanced GPT-5.1 personality models will also reach the GPT-5.1 API updates this week.
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